Letters to the Editor

In response to Maia Ajanaku's bevy of nugatory reasons for supporting Willie Herenton (Letters, July 8th issue): Why not say "Jews" or "Jewish citizens" instead of the thinly veiled anti-Semitic phrase "other groups"? We had enough of such screeds with Nikki Tinker. If Steve Cohen is renominated, it is due to his effective representation of District 9 and Willie Herenton's glaring shortcomings, which one dare not raise for fear of a childish temper tantrum.

Likewise, sliming "the Black Caucus" for supporting Cohen is childish. If you must divide, go ahead, just don't expect the voters to applaud. Your failure to provide a single public-policy-based reason to support Herenton inadvertently validates those who think he has nothing but race on which to base his candidacy. Don't blame Cohen for being both an effective congressperson and an effective candidate.

And how is it "we let Herenton down"? Herenton did that himself. His decreasingly effective governance of the city and his quixotic decision to quit cost the taxpayers an ill-affordable $1 million. I do not believe Herenton wants to go to Congress, a body he has shown contempt for in the past. This is just another show.

Finally, you are wrong about there not being term limits for Congress: They are called elections. There is no reason to think a truly viable candidate of whatever color or creed could not emerge to offer Cohen a serious challenge at some point, but Willie Herenton is hardly that candidate.

Alex North

Memphis

Kooks

How much longer will our leaders allow fringe kooks to cripple Memphis and chase away would-be investors? With staggering unemployment and dwindling opportunities for our youth, it is absolutely immoral to risk new development in favor of an ugly eyesore like the Union Avenue Methodist Church that Memphis Heritage head June West admits she hasn't been inside for years.

For all West's supposed love for these rotting, fetid buildings, the only time she ever gets up off her carcass is when she smells someone else's money. I would at least find her credible if she was proactive. Have you ever run stories about her attracting investors and raising money for these buildings? I haven't, but maybe I missed them.

Forcing others to spend money on what a small group of socialite lunatics hold as sacred is absolutely bizarre. CVS has a well-researched business model and only a fool would assume to have more knowledge than the businesses looking to locate here.

I have no problem with someone wanting to preserve garbage. However, if these monstrosities are so precious and important, West should have no problem with Memphis Heritage paying to renovate them. The retail business is tough, and blackmailing businesses to spend extra money only makes it harder for them to survive in the long run. I urge CVS to help Memphis and to tell West and her group to pound salt.

If the people in Memphis don't find these nasty structures worth investing in, what kind of an idiot thinks an outsider should be required to do it?

Trying to blame Tea Party supporters for BP's awful job of stopping the oil leak is absurd. Lowe seems to think every conservative/Republican/Tea Party supporter is defending BP. Lumping Michele Bachmann, Rand Paul, and Sharron Angle as supporters of BP is just nuts.

When broad-brushing, I wonder why Lowe left out the pitiful job the current administration has done in the Gulf of Mexico. There are no new jobs and high unemployment, the national debt is out of control, and they are spending money the country doesn't have. These are comical excuses and lies the people in the White House are trying to put past the citizenry. I blame D.C. more than BP, because they are supposed to protect our country. They are failing miserably.